# A Problem Solving Intervention for Post-ICU Cognitive Impairment in Older Adults

> **NIH NIH R03** · OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $156,000

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
At 1-year post-ICU discharge, two-thirds of ICU survivors experience cognitive dysfunction at a
severity comparable to that of patients with mild Alzheimer's disease or moderate traumatic
brain injury, regardless of age or pre-morbid chronic illness burden. Despite the prevalence,
significance and persistence of cognitive impairment following critical illness, few interventions
have been tested that help ICU survivors overcome these cognitive changes. The purpose of
this pilot study is to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability and efficacy of a problem solving
intervention, Post Intensive Care Unit Problem Solving (PIC-UPS) in the home setting for
older adult ICU survivors suffering from post-ICU cognitive impairment. This study will employ a
small-scale two-group randomized controlled trial (RCT) comparing the effect of a ten session
intervention with a Control Group (CG) for older adult ICU survivors who have cognitive
impairment at hospital discharge on cognitive function, chronic illness self-management,
affective well-being (anxiety, depression), health care utilization and health related quality of life
(HR-QoL). The components of PIC-UPS include (1) in-person, in-home strategy training
designed to overcome cognitive problems by employing comprehensive structured problem-
solving strategies delivered by trained interventionists and (2) concomitant use of smartphone
technology specifically designed to remind and reinforce in-person training. The study will be
conducted in the adult medical ICUs at a large Midwestern academic medical center with older
adult participants (n=80) recruited prior to home discharge and randomized to either intervention
or control group. Baseline data collection will occur at enrollment. The first session of PIC-UPS
will be delivered after enrollment to those participants randomized to the intervention group n
the hospital setting. Weekly intervention sessions (9) will be conducted by a trained
interventionist and supplemented by telephone reminders to complete daily homework. Follow-
up data collection will be conducted in the home for all participants (intervention and control
group) by a blinded data collector three months post-enrollment. This study will provide data on
processes critical to further hypothesis development and to the successful development of a
large RCT to test the effectiveness of PIC-UPS on cognitive function, chronic illness self-
management, affective well-being (anxiety, depression), health care utilization and HR-QoL in
older adult ICU survivors who suffer cognitive impairment at hospital discharge. In addition, our
pilot will provide infrastructure for a larger trial (e.g., manual of operations, web-based data
collection form), a manuscript describing the pilot study findings, and an R01 application to NIA.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9914194
- **Project number:** 5R03AG063276-02
- **Recipient organization:** OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Judith Ann Tate
- **Activity code:** R03 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $156,000
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-04-15 → 2023-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9914194

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9914194, A Problem Solving Intervention for Post-ICU Cognitive Impairment in Older Adults (5R03AG063276-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9914194. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*